Asset - Gambia

Information:ASSET
stands for the Association of Small Scale Enterprises
in Tourism and their headquarters are situated in Bakau
just off the New Town Rd.

Its chairperson is Geri Mitchell, owner of Safari Garden
Hotel in Fajara & the Sandele Eco-Retreat in Kartong
(south Gambia). The organisation represents the informal
sector of the Gambian tourism sector.

By informal sector is meant all those individuals and
micro enterprises, which engage with tourists and the
tourism industry, but are not members of the Gambian
Hotel Association or the Ground Handlers and Equipment
Hirers Association.

The Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism
(ASSET), resulted from a previous British High Commission
sponsored Gambian Tourism Concern Workshop on Private
Small Scale and Community-Based Tourism Enterprises
held in The Gambia in October 1999. It was established
in April 2000, bringing together some 40 small and micro
enterprises. These include craft market vendors, tourist
taxi drivers, official tourist guides, juice pressers
and fruit sellers as well as a number of small hotels,
guest houses and Ground Tour Operators.

The main objective of the organisation is to enable
small-scale tourism enterprises to benefit more from
their participation in the tourism industry and it works
with its members on product development, marketing training,
access to finance and quality assurance, and represents
its membersí interests to government and the formal
sector. It functions as a trade association for the
SMMEs in the informal sector.

It played a key role in establishing co-operative working
relationships between different informal sector groups
and in assisting them to develop codes of conduct for
their own members. It established a conflict resolution
group and a new products group.

Two editions of Mango News were produced by ASSET in
January and April 2002. This kept the membership informed
of developments and provided a mechanism for sharing
examples of good practise in the informal sector.

The taxi drivers became enthusiastic members of the
organisation and have increased their own level of organisation.

ASSET has developed a new product: gift baskets which
are composed of a range of craft and produce (soap/beeswax/honey)
for sale through markets stalls and supermarkets and
at the airport.